At the same time a mini-industry
of critics attack the Olympics for its inglorious hypocrisy and tawdry
commercialism. The critics attack the endless sponsors; detractors bemoan the
bribes and scandals about awarding Olympics and the gargantuan expenditures by
countries to stage Olympics. Opponents decry the judging scandals and the
political uses whether Hitler’s 1936 attempt at legitimacy, the boycotts of the
Soviet Union and USA or the coming out party staged by China’s Olympics.
Finally they will lament the win at all costs mentality of individuals or nations that lead
to chemical enhanced cheating whether muscle enhanced East German women or
growth retarded Chinese divers or disgraced champions ranging from Marion Jones
to Ben Johnson.
You know what? It does not matter.
The scandals contribute to the greatness of the accomplishments because robust
ideals fail all the time, but failure does not destroy their power.
Human ideals have many functions.
- They provide a vision to which people can aspire.
- A good ideal guides judgment.
- Ideals motivate people to organize attention and resources to pursue goals.
- They help humans to connect their lives to a project that individuals believe transcends their own individual selfishness.
- The best ideals provide moral resources to criticize actions and self correct in the name of getting better or closer to the idea.
Most worthy human endeavors are
buttressed by ideals and grow through them even as people often fail to live up
to them. Every professional practice such as law, engineering or medicine lives
by this dynamic. A country like the United States exists as an imperfect
pursuit of ideals.
Our own frailties and failures
reinforce the importance and robustness of good ideals, and the Olympics
represent very powerful and durable ideals. Yet the ideals live in the world we
have created—London has six anti-aircraft sites to protect the games from
terrorist and a huge drug testing apparatus employs hundreds of people. And yet
we will watch because the ideals may be tarnished but remain beautiful.
The founding of the modern
Olympics in 1896 had 214 athletes from 14 countries. Pierre de Coubertin who
lead the effort believe fiercely that a reconstituted Olympics could reflect
the “harmonious development of man,” and help build human peace just as the
original Olympics built on a “truce” among the endlessly warring Greeks. Olympic virtues would remind everyone that for humans “victory does not matter so much
as the struggle.”
Here are six Olympic Ideals that
remain true and robust in these imperfect games:
·
Olympians as Citizens
·
Competing from Desire and Love
·
Displaying Human Excellence
·
Merit and Inclusion
·
Ideals versus Imperfect Humanity
·
Human Solidarity
Olympians as Citizens: Every athlete who reaches the Olympics
achieves the pinnacle of achievement in their country or region. Being an
OLYMPIAN brings great and deserved honor in itself that marks a person for life. An Olympian joins an elite
citizenry of women and men who have worked hard, studied, competed and earned
their position. An Olympian represents a form of human citizenship that
everyone can celebrate.
Competing from Desire and Love: 98 percent of Olympians are not
rich or extremely well off. Even state supported competitors live OK, but after
the Olympics many will struggle to find a livelihood. Of the 36 Olympics
sports, only basketball, tennis, soccer and sometimes volleyball provide serious money as an occupation. Most
Olympians hold their own jobs and scramble for sponsorship and support even as
they compete in tournaments. These athletes carry on for the drive and joy of competing and
for commitment to sports such as canoe, judo, shooting, trampoline, fencing
or curling (woops, wrong season). These competitors pursue obscure sports with
passion and skill because they love it and they enjoy winning and being the best.
The Olympics vindicate and honor this pursuit.
Displaying Human Excellence The root meaning of athletics
is struggle and achieving anything in life requires hard work, thinking and
grappling with obstacles. The human condition is born in and lives through
struggle; it embodies our challenge and nobility. DeCoubertin defended the
morality of athletics and the Olympics upon the very French ideal that they
epitomized triumphant struggle. Athletics paints a canvass where we watch and
experience both the heart of struggle in competition but also the end product
of superb achievement in physical and mental activities. People spend their
entire lives to arrive at the Olympics, and the pinnacle offers the best that
humanity can offer gathering in one place.
Merit and Inclusion The
Olympic ideal always sought inclusiveness “without discrimination” for all
humans and countries to compete. This permitted self-criticism and gradually expanded
to all the countries of the world but also expanded from men to women. Nonwestern
sports such as judo and Taekwondo are now in competition. Nonwestern countries sponsor the games and regualry win medals. Often it meant not
all athletes from their countries were the best of the best, but they
represented the best of that country or region, and that was good enough. The best
earn Olympic participation, and athletes in every part of the world can dream
of being an Olympian.
Ideals versus Imperfect Humanity The critics are right,
the Olympics are overly commercialized, can be distorted by politics and cost
way too much, and people pursue them for mixed motives such as gaining
endorsements or status in their own country. Right and so what? Humans have
always been creatures of mixed motives, our very mixed motives and riven nature
make the achievement of beauty and achievement in art, science, friendship and
sports so remarkable. Very imperfect artists can create great art; great
political achievements involve mixed motives and compromises; why should
athletics be any different? The achievement through and despite our human
frailties deserves respect and celebration.
Human solidarity For the original founders
creating a liturgical stage for competition represented a means to a much
deeper end--to encourage human solidarity. The Olympics for modern humanity as
for ancient Greece can provide a sacramental space to celebrate the incarnation
of our common and shared humanity. Like the achievements and methods of
science, the achievements and method of sport transcend national and ethnic
boundaries and permit us to honor and appreciate our common human embodiment
and struggle. The Olympic founders were
deeply dedicated to the peace movement and believe athletics teaches that
humans can compete and struggle other without hatred or becoming enemies.
In the first modern Olympics, they
took the swimmers off the coast of Greece and dropped them in the Mediterranean Sea. The
first winner claimed he was more concerned with keeping alive in the water than
winning. That spirit still explains why the Olympic ideals matter.
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